356 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Nov. 
this town, you can scarce avoid treading upon these 
subterranean granaries. In riding out one day, 
our horse broke through, with one of his hind feet, 
the covering of one of these pits, and we came very 
near being in the predicament of poor Joseph, when 
thrown, by his envious brethren, into a similar pit. 
They are usually, however, made very secure, and 
often, in the country, covered over so carefully and 
privately, and so completely overgrown with grass, 
as not to be discoverable except by those who have 
charge of them. This is to prevent surprise or rob¬ 
bery in times of war, insurrections, See., and also to 
keep them out of reach of the Emperor’s clutches, 
who is not very backward or scrupulous about help¬ 
ing himself to all the surplus forage he can lay his 
hands upon. Quantities of grain frequently remain 
in these pits for years, without sustaining any ma¬ 
terial injury, although they are generally construct¬ 
ed by simply digging the pit-holes the required size, 
(something like the way our cisterns are made,) and 
lining the sides with cement, leaving a small aper¬ 
ture at the top, through which the grain may be 
passed, and into which a man may enter, as occa¬ 
sion may require. They are made of any required 
size. 
The Moorish hoe is a very useful implement, and 
not quite as uncouth and primitive as the plow. 
The Moors never use a shovel or spade, nor a wheel¬ 
barrow. They use the hoe in all kinds of digging. 
In excavating a well, or loading manure, &c., they 
hoe the earth or manure into small baskets and car¬ 
ry it to its place of destination. The hoe resembles 
somewhat a small, stout spade, in the blade, and 
has a handle very much like that of a pick-axe. 
The first I had seen of the Moorish plow, or plow¬ 
ing, was about the middle of January, 1849, while 
taking a short ride into the country. The plow was 
similar to the one shown in the above sketch, and 
was drawn by a bull and cow yoked together! This, 
thought I, is “plowing with the heifer” in the most 
literal manner conceivable. I looked intently in 
the face of the wild sans culottes of a mountaineer at 
the tail of the plow, to see if he did not betray some 
symtoms of compunctious shame at this desecra¬ 
tion and perversion of feminine rights and privi¬ 
leges; but he appeared as stoical and unconcerned 
and self-complacent, as any person could be, who 
considers himself strictly within the line of proprie¬ 
ty, and of his duty; and the only emotion discerna- 
ble was that evinced by an additional stab at the 
poor animals, with the long pointed goad which the 
Arab flourished in his hand, as if in retaliation at 
my looks of surprise and pity. 
The apology for a yoke, consists of a long, rough 
stick of wood, three or four inches in diameter, 
placed across the necks of the animals, and project¬ 
ing far enough on either side, to admit of a thong or 
strap being fastened to it; this strap, at the other 
end, is hitched to a cross-bar which passes under 
the cattle, just back of the fore legs, and is connect¬ 
ed in the centre to the wooden pin (F) at the end of 
the plow-beam, something upon the plan of a neck- 
yoke of a pair of horses, when hitched to a wagon. 
The effect of this constraining harness is, to bring 
the heads of the animals down so low that their 
noses nearly touch the ground. If they undertake 
to raise their heads, they are checked by the cross¬ 
bar under their bellies. I have seen another kind of 
yoke, which operates direetly the reverse. It is 
simply a block of wood passing in front of the horns, 
(to which it is lashed,) with a thong fastened in the 
centre, and attached to the end of the plow-beam. 
This draws the heads of the animals into the air, 
presenting a very ludicrous appearance. I saw a 
similar contrivance in Spain. The cattle are some¬ 
times driven with rope reins, fastened to the outside 
horn of each animal. 
Horses are never used for plowing. It is consid¬ 
ered too degrading an occupation for so noble an 
animal. But oxen, cows, bulls, mules, donkeys, 
and camels, are all indiscriminately pressed into the 
service. Sometimes there may be seen yoked togeth¬ 
er a donkey with an ox, a bull with a mule, two cows 
and a camel with a donkeyl —all trudging on with as 
much patient philosophy and indifference as the na¬ 
tives who drive them. And it is said that the wilder 
of the natives sometimes harness their wives to the 
plow. But this I do not credit, although I have 
seen them employed in almost every degree of me¬ 
nial drudgery conceivable, from grinding at the mill, 
and hoeing and delving in the fields, to chopping 
wood, and carrying it to market on their heads! 
In plowing, they merely scratch over the ground, 
leaving a sort of rut scarcely over four or five inches 
in diameter, looking as though it had been rooted up 
by the wild boars, and this they have to do in the 
winter, after the rains have moistened the earth, as 
it is so hard and baked in the summer, that it would 
be difficult penetrating it with even a more potent 
instrument than their wild-boar-nosed plow. Near¬ 
ly all, in fact of their general tilling, as well as 
plowing, is done in the winter. From the first of 
November to the first of June, is the growing sea¬ 
son for all vegetation. 
The soil, especially of the vallies and fiat lands, 
is rich, deep, and remarkably fertile, notwithstand¬ 
ing it has been worn for ages without manuring. 
There seems to be no sub-soil, or hard-pan ; but for 
six or eight feet in depth, the same dark, loamy sand, 
or rich alluvial, appears to prevail; and it produces 
fine crops in spite of the slip-shod treatment which 
it receives. With an enlightened, efficient mode of 
tillage, this part of Africa might be made one of the 
most productive portions of the earth. But the na¬ 
tives, especially the Arabs, are too fond of a roving 
pastoral life, ever to settle down to improve the soil 
in the slow, patient manner that is requisite to suc¬ 
cess. And there is but little encouragement to pa¬ 
tient industry, if they were not naturally averse to 
it; for were they to build up thriving and profitable 
plantations, these would, with all their hard-earned 
profits, be stripped from them by the harsh and 
grasping hand of despotism, which seizes upon every¬ 
thing that will minister to its pride and luxury. 
Hence the sons of the desert and mountains, prefer 
their wild, roving life—they are the Nimrods—the 
“ mighty hunters,” who delight in the chase, 
and are never more at home than when mounted upon 
their swift barbs, and sweeping over valley and 
mountain and sandy plain, in all the wild freedom of 
nature, and making the mountains reverberate with 
their wild chanting notes, as they sing: 
<c Away, away, my barb and I, 
As free as wave, as fleet as wind, 
We sweep the sands of Araby, 
And leave a world of slaves behind. 
’Tis mine to range in this wild garb, 
Nor e’er feel lonely though alone; 
I would not change my Arab barb, 
To mount a drowsy Sultan’s throne. 
Away, away, &c. 
“ Where the pale stranger dare not come, 
Proud o’er my native sands I rove; 
An Arab tent my only home, 
An Arab maid my only love. 
Here freedom dwells without a fear. 
Coy to the world she loves the wild; 
Who ever brings a fetter here, 
To chain the desert’s fiery child? 
Away, away!” &c. 
Well, Mr. Editor, I began with a plow , and will 
